A Christmas Retrospective

I remember when I was a about 5 years old, I really believed in Santa Claus. I would go to bed early, barely able to fall asleep due to the anticipation of seeing what was under the tree. I remember waking up at 4am in the morning and knocking on everyone's door so they would see what surprises were under the tree. I remember the joy of ripping open presents and the delight of seeing what gifts I received I can honestly say that I don't remember what anyone else received... that moment was all mine!

I also remember when I had my own children. We would wait until Christmas Eve when everyone. After everyone went to bed, we would go through this frenzy of putting up a Christmas tree, decorations, and wrapping gifts. We made sure that we were awake before the kids and that wait for that moment when they walked around the corner and see how the house had been transformed with lights, a tree, and presents!

Now that most of the kids are grown, I think I may have missed the point or at last not emphasized the importance of the season correctly. In my mind, it was always about giving of gifts and making sure that thy were happy - even though the happiness was temporary... toys eventually forgotten, but in my younger days, the bills remained for much longer.

Around 6am on Christmas Eve I went into Walmart to buy a belt because mine had broken, and I stopped to talk with a man that worked there. He told me about how he stopped a man trying to steal $700 worth of presents. His words were, "That's a felony! I know he wanted to do something for his family this year, but this changes their whole life!"

I know we all think about the fact that God sent His son, and that the 3 wise men came bearing gifts, but there is one scripture that I think we should all pay closer attention to:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matt 2:1-2

 We get so caught up on the fact that they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, that we forget that the real reason they came was to worship Jesus, born King, the Savior of us all!

Going into the new year, let's try to keep things in perspective and remember to worship God because He devised a plan to reconcile man back to Himself because he loved us. Selah.